UK ISP's and access to SL

Hi,

A while back there were questions about a UK internet service provider allowing access to SL via their broadband service.

Does anyone know if this is still the case, please?

I'm thinking of moving over to Orange broadband.

Many thanks,
Dave.

Orange? I wouldn't go with them. Then again at this point of time I can't think of any UK ISP I'd recommend to anyone. They're all dreadful. Before you take the plunge with any ISP, check here: http://www.thinkbroadband.com/

What exactly do you mean? I am not aware of any UK based ISPs that block access to SL. Other than that, you will hear good and horror stories about all ISPs.

At home in Scotland I'm with Virgin's fibre-optic broadband (was previous Telewest) which is really good. Always on and always gives the speed promised (except during bad technical difficulties).

However I'm currently in London till around Christmas time, and I'm stuck on broadband with Namesco which is awful. It suffers the same problems as any ADSL broadband provider, namely it says "up to 8mbps", emphasis on up-to, we're lucky to get 2mbps out of the blasted thing despite being almost right next to the exchange. Plus my IP address shows up on popular IP address -> location databases as being with the Czech Republic

I am on Orange and they do not block access to SL. I started out when it was Freeserve years ago. Freeserve was taken over by Wannadoo and they were taken over by Orange. IMO the customer service has gone downhill with every take over.

My experience has been that it is all very good until you have a problem and want customer service. A month ago, my livebox died owing to a lightning strike that took out power from the neighbourhood. (It was pretty dramatic!) It was impossible to get the Orange Customer Services in India to believe that it was defunct. Hours on the telephone, repeating the same tests - and they then insisted on sending a new connector and cable and repeating all the tests before they would send a replacement livebox after sending the dead one back. To add to the problems they supplied incorrect connection information, which took several more lengthy 'phone calls to sort out.

Since I have a small LAN and website hosting, it is no small matter to me - to change to another ISP is heap of work and hastle.

Apparently Big Pond has its own viewer to access SL that you download and use. Do you mean something like that? If so, I do not know, Big Pond is Australian.

There are no UK ISPs which block access to SL. However, many 'shape' their traffic. For example, if you sign up with Orange (arguably the worst of all), you will find that your rate of data transfer drops dramatically after you have transferred the first 2 Gb of the month. After that, everything will be slow.

If you intend to be a heavy SL user, you should be ready to pay more, eg: for a home business type connection. For that type of account, zen.co.uk have an outstanding reputation.

I'm with TalkTalk, Carphone Warehouse broadband package, 8MB, all phone call charges inc. £23+ a month. Not had any problems for nearly a year. (wonders if that's the kiss of death?)

How did Virgin get the fibre optic cable up there? Did they make a hole in Hadrian's Wall?

Im also not aware of any ISP that block SL. However if your in a capped monthly download limit or if your net usage doesnt fall within the "fair use" policies of some ISP you might be asked to stop or have your contract terminated.

SL is more bandwidth intensive than general net use and if you do alot of teleporting etc you can expect to chew through a typical half gig or more of data per day.

As someone said, no single isp in the uk is any better than any other. There are people on all of them that have nothing but good service, and plenty who dont. For instance you might have heard of problems with bulldog customer service. While they cant be called friendly most of the time, i have never had a single problem with them, and very limited technical problems.

It just about comes down to where you live, and anyone on more than 2mb is the minority i can assure you.

You wont find SL blocked for any other reason than using too much bandwidth per month than your isp allows, and even then its only because our net infrastructure needs a radical overhaul.....hope that helps.

Many thanks for the replies.

If you fancy trawling back through SL blogs several months ago (assuming they are still available for viewing) I think you will find a mention of at least one UK ISP where users could not - at least at the time - access SL.

Still spinning the coin . . but may give Orange a go

Best wishes,
Dave